maybe not a defense expert. the "the washington post" came out and said there are those who come -- democrats that would be to the right of chuck hagel in terms of his policies regarding wars and defense. so why is he the president's choice at this point? >> certainly the idea of bipartisanship and trying to sell some of the shrinking defense budget items. >> otherwise, i don't see a good rationale for him given some of the choices the president has. understand the hill. leon panetta was very well qualified. budget chairman in the house. omb director. cia. he had all that preparation before running into the pentagon and he has done a is he person job. very tough job. even he said that we face some dire devastating times ahead if sequestration goes ahead. chuck hagel seems to think that we can cut, quote, more the bloat out of the pentagon. there probably is some over there. but you need to understand the system right, given of the republican opposition i don't know that the president gets a lot of credit for bip